MLS: Up-and-down Union prepare for Seattle

CHESTER — The rollercoaster ride that is the MLS season is entering its third month, and as the Philadelphia Union barrel-roll into May, they ups and downs are being acutely felt.

There was the high of two weeks ago, capturing their first ever points at RFK Stadium against D.C. United. The momentum of that wave came crashing down to earth with a 2-0 loss last week at New England, a team that had been struggling but looked anything like the ninth-best team in the Eastern Conference against the Union.

It makes you wonder just what is waiting around the next blind corner.

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“I think this league is tough that way no matter what,” Union manager John Hackworth said Wednesday at his weekly press conference at PPL Park. “I think every team across the board you see that with because there’s so much parity and so much competition. And on any given day, anybody can beat anybody. And it’s tough from that standpoint especially when people have thoughts that our team is going to be better than it actually is.”

Against New England, a team Hackworth described as “exceptional” for their play, the Union looked anything like the playoff-contending side they resembled in the first seven matches. But the small sample size made any expectations of the match difficult to sustain.

“(New England) haven’t been that good in previous games, so that leads to a perception that ‘hey this is going to be an easy game for Philly’ and therefore maybe Philly let down, which we did,” Hackworth said. “But I think it has a lot do with that internal competitiveness in this league and how much parity you have from club to club, how close the competition truly is.”

The next challenge on the board is a Seattle Sounders team that has limped out of the gates and sits next-to-last in the West despite being a perennial MLS Cup challenger. From a rocky ride through the first few games, they blow into PPL Park off a 1-0 win over Colorado.

Suddenly, what looked at one time like an opportunity for the Union (3-3-2, 11 points) to tussle with three straight teams down on their luck now looks like a struggle against dormant contenders being awakened from a prolonged slumber.

The refrain in the Union locker room, even before the D.C. and New England games, was guarded respect, knowing that the numbers may not tell the whole story. The challenge moving forward is for the Union to put that type of caution into practice and deliver a result at home that is suddenly badly needed.

“A team like Seattle that is struggling early is one of those teams that all of us in the league would consider a team that is going to be there at the end of the day,” Hackworth said. “We still have such a long season to play. Every team has had their struggles early in the year, whether it’s because we’re starting early, dealing with weather, dealing with travel. I think that’s all a big part of it.

“Seattle is arguably one of the best teams in the league. Certainly on paper they are. (Coach) Sigi (Schmid) is one of the best coaches in this league and has been, so they’re going to be one of the best teams we’ve played for sure, and we’re going to have to significantly improve from our last performance if we’re going to be successful Saturday night.”

For more on the Union, visit Matthew’s blog at uniontally.blogspot.com.